Integrating Gender and Nutrition within Agricultural Extension Services, INGENAES, is a USAID-funded collaboration between three universities and one woman-owned small business (can include links to UIUC, UF, Cultural Practice). From 2014 – 2018, INGENAES worked in nine countries with approximately 100 women's groups and trained more than 1600 people to positively impact family nutrition and food security. The program developed capacity of country-led training and extension programs to address needs specific to women and focused on issues of gender equity and household nutrition. 

Among the countries where we worked, UC Davis played a leading role in efforts in Zambia. our team worked with the Zambian Ministry of Agriculture and the Zambian Forum for Agricultural Extension and Advisory Services to develop a gender-responsive and nutrition sensitive National Agricultural Extension and Advisory Services Strategy, which Zambia officially launched in 2017. This was truly a partnership that resulted in a commitment from the Zambian government to hire more women extension workers and to include nutrition when they teach others about agriculture. 

At the close of the project, Zambia emerged as a leader in agricultural training and extension with increased ability to improve the livelihoods of their farmers, of which 77% are poor. What we've done is bigger than simply delivering a training - instead, we've equipped an entire country with an extension strategy that applies to their needs. And we've been able to share our experience from the United States perspective.

A snapshot of this project can be found HERE. 

For more information about this program, please visit:  https://agreach.illinois.edu/ingenaes